Reflection
by Red Pheonix 155
Summary: On his flight back to Kanto, Ash is reflecting on his time with a certain "friend". An Amourshipping story.


**Hi, this is my first time writing a fanfic. I never imagined I would do this but here I am. I wrote a lot of random things in the SPPf Amourshipping thread. Recently, some of my friends suggested that I should write a fanfic. I decided to write a one-shot and here is the result. Hope you enjoy. :)**

 **This story takes place during the final episode of the Pokemon XYZ series. Additionally, it references some past episodes of the XY and XYZ series. So expect some SPOILERS.**

 **Now for the actual story.**

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome onboard to flight K91 with service from Kalos to Kanto. We will be air in approximately five minutes. Please fasten your-"

"Oh boy, Pikachu! We're finally going!"

"Pika!"

The boy by the name of Ash Ketchum couldn't look more excited. After a long journey in the Kalos region, he was finally going to his home region, Kanto. He got a sit besides a window. He could see two blond haired figures standing in the distance through the window. They were his travelling companions, Clemont and Bonnie. There were one other person missing from the picture, Serena. She already left for Hoenn in an earlier flight.

Soon, the propellers started roaring and the plane quickly zipped across the runway, then it slowly ascended to the sunset sky. Ash saw structures and roads gradually shrinking to dots and lines across a bumpy plane. He found it unbelievable that just a few days ago, he was travelling in that place with his friends and pokemon, in his own merry ways. Kalos will certainly hold a special place in his heart for a long time. How did all of this start...

When he first arrived at Kalos, the first thing he did was dash across the Lumiose City in his fruitless attempt to secure his first gym badge in the new region. That's when he met the lemon siblings, Clemont and Bonnie. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself jumping off a building to save his best buddy Pikachu and challenging for his first gym badge in Santalune City with his newly caught Fletchling. He lost the battle, he was a little down and then...a girl came with his bag. He apparently forgot his bag while he was busy with taking care of his pokemon. He later learned that she was the girl with the straw hat he had met way back in Professor Oak's summer camp. Although he didn't remember it at first, much to her displeasure, but he did end up adding her to his travelling team. At the time, he didn't think much of her, other than that she was nice and she was a nice person to have as a travelling companion. Of course, things changed since then. Especially after what happened today.

Ash felt uneasy thinking about it. He looked to his left shoulder to see his most trusted friend, Pikachu. He gave off a smile and his buddy responded with a "Pika!". He felt a little better. He looked outwards through the window. The plane was now high up the clouds. He could see the sun's golden rays reflecting of the puffy white clouds, resulting in a striking display of various shades of yellow. He never noticed this before but he discovered that yellow is a very beautiful colour. Serena's hair was also a very beautiful shade of yellow. He was so involved with his pokemon battles that he never thought of it before.

Wait, why is he thinking about her again? He understood that whatever she did to him today, it was going to bug him for quite a while. He tried to gather his thoughts again.

She was standing there. By the escalator. Right before leaving, she said some of the most mysterious words to him and left for the escalator with a even more mysterious wink. Ash, being Ash, was confused but Ash, being Ash, brushed it off as something not to think about. Then it happened. She was riding on the escalator and then she requested to have one final moment. And one final moment it was. She ran up the running escalator to him and he was confused as hell. Then time itself seemed to slowed down just for the moment and then he experienced the most strangest, wonderful, amazing, confusing, beautiful and life changing event in his life. Then she rode down the escalator with an innocent blushing smile and Ash was stuck with the mess she whirled up in his head.

If Ash loved anything for certain, it's pokemon(and food). From his childhood, he always tried to befriend all the pokemon he met. He shared many ups and downs of his life with his pokemon. He is very close to his pokemon. Of course, he was accompanied by a lot of people over the course of his seemingly never ending quest to become a pokemon master. He definitely liked them. They shared the same passion, the love of pokemon, with him and travelled with him to every corner of the world. He always thought of them as friends and didn't think much after that. He thought the same of Serena. He never needed to think much about it either. But that changed after-

"Pika!"

Ash got startled by the sudden shout from his electric friend. He probably needed to listen to why his buddy suddenly called out.

"What's wrong buddy?"

"Pika pi pi pika pika ka!"

"Huh?"

He noticed that, all this time, he was oblivious to his beloved, food. There was a tray put in front of him a while ago. The flight attendant probably gave up trying to draw his attention and just let Pikcahu do the job. There were two Kalosian frangipanes, the same he was eating with Serena when they hung out a few days ago, and a cup of tea. He felt like an idiot to completely ignore his stomach's pleas.

He gave one of the frangipanes to his buddy. He grabbed other one and took a bite out of it. As he was munching away the crunchy exterior of the frangipane, he started to think about Serena again. His stomach was probably screaming again, as he became engrossed in finishing the line of thought he had been following before he was distracted by his buddy.

He knew how it felt like being close to someone to the point that he would share their pain. He knew how it felt like being close to someone to the point that he could journey with them for a long time. But he never knew how it felt like being close to someone to the point that they would want to taste his lips. This was something completely new for Ash Ketchum. Suddenly, this realization kicked in and he felt like the hazy fog set in his mind was slowly clearing up. He understood that when Serena liked him, she meant that in a different way. He was not completely sure but he knew that it was definitely not the same way as liking someone as a friend.

But if that were the case, then everything Serena ever did to him might not be what he originally thought it was. All the memories he had with Serena started flashing in front of his eyes, but he was being drawn to one particular piece. The fateful day Serena met him face to face on a blistering cold morning in the winding woods.

Just thinking about that time makes him feel depressed. He thought that it was better not to think about the whole thing, so he decided to put that memory in a box and tucked it to a corner of his mind. Now, as his curiosity was building up, perhaps the time has come to finally reopen the box.

He was sitting on top of a log, drowning in his self doubt and incompetence, in the harsh colds of the winding woods. That's when Serena came up to him huffing and puffing. She offered to help him, hoping she could warm his cold heart up by sharing her experience of her failures in performances. Ash, not being Ash, snapped at Serena and rejected her offer. Then she got furious. Of course, it's natural to get angry after what he did to her but what was NOT natural is what she did after that. She started blabbering about what the "real" Ash was, how he leads everyone and how he never gives up till the very end, then she started to furiously throw snowballs at him out of nowhere. The snowballs probably shared the same fury Serena had as they knocked him down to the ground and he was left staring at the sky for ten straight seconds. At the time, he thought that she was just angry because he yelled at her. But now, it seemed to be like she was angry not because he yelled at her, but rather because he was not being himself. This explains why she didn't throw snowballs at him right away, she wanted to make it clear that she's disappointed with him. Obviously, she looked up to him. So when she saw that the Ash she was seeing was not being the Ash she knew, she got genuinely upset. As if, she lost the person she admired so much. Wait, she got upset because she lost the person, the "Ash", she liked so much? Does that mean she likes him for who he is?

That's when it hit him, a shocking thunderbolt from Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Why did you have to do that?"

Ash wasn't angry. He was just surprised that Pikachu zapped him out of nowhere. Fortunately for him, Pikachu didn't put too much power in his zap.

"Pika pi pi pika Pi!"

"Huh? Do you want to tell me something?"

"Pika ka ka pi!"

"Oh I see."

Ash noticed that his tea was getting cold. Actually, he still had that frangipane in his hand. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he forgot to finish his frangipane. He gobbled it up and grabbed the cup of tea. He was rather eager to explore the newly discovered side of Serena, so he started to think about her again, completely oblivious to the fact that he was drinking airplane tea.

Serena liked Ash as a person. That's why she got angry in the winding woods. It was pretty obvious that sort of affection didn't come out of nowhere. She always liked him. Maybe that would explain why she was bumbling when she met him after a long time, she was worried that she might screw up in front of her desired man. Things are clicking. Oh and that time when he sprained his ankle. Serena took care of him. He remembered that Serena was extra gentle when she put the wet cloth on his foot. Maybe a bit too gentle. It's not like she was handling Clemont's explosion prone contraptions. He also remembered how she randomly shouted how he was amazing. In fact, she seemed to randomly say how he was so amazing and how she admired him quite often. He didn't get why she would do that, which is why he always responded with a "Huh?". But he understood all of it now.

Another mysterious behaviour from her was when a red line appeared across her cheeks. She seemed to do that everytime he praised her. Perhaps, she really appreciated praise coming from her cherished person. Ash, of course, only noticed that Serena looked rather cute when she blushed. Her face looked like a ripe red tomato. Seriously, who doesn't like ripe red tomatoes? He has developed an appreciation for high quality tomatoes. Doesn't help that his Pikachu likes ketchup made from only the best tomatoes around the world.

Tomato fantasies aside, one other time he remembered was when he gifted a present to her. When she grabbed the gift out of his hands, her intense joy and gratitude could be seen in her beautiful sapphire blue eyes which were sparkling like the stars of the night sky. Ash, of course, noticed it just now. He remembered how quickly she rushed to him after falling off the sky and how anxious she was when he was out in the battlefield. In fact, it seemed like the more and more he thought about her, the more and more he understood how much he meant to Serena. The way he talked, the way he walked, the way he smiled, how he would always stay positive, the way he would goof off to catch a Dunsparce, how he would battle to the very end with absolute determination, every part of his personality, she loved all of them. Except maybe the "goofing off to catch a Dunsparce" one. The way her eyes dazzled when she looked at him, the way she revealed genuine admiration when she spoke to him, the way she smiled everytime he did something stupid, they all reveal the same thing. She admired him in all aspects, she cared for him in all situations and she wanted to be with him for her whole life. In other words, _she truly loved Ash from the bottom of her heart_.

Finally, he seemed to find the light at the end of the long tunnel of making sense of today's events. But even after coming so far, Ash was left with one final, giant boulder in his path.

 _He couldn't understand his own feelings_.

This was rather strange for him. He used to think of her as a friend. Although he always had some extra bit of affection for her but that's about it. But after realizing how Serena thought of him, he couldn't look at Serena in the same way again. It was difficult to think the same after understanding how much of a special person he was to Serena. But at the same time, suddenly changing his views on her also proves to be difficult. He feels weird. Very weird. Brock acted weird when she met any pretty looking girl.

Why was he thinking about Brock all of a sudden? Perhaps, he might help Ash regarding his "weird" feelings? But he's not here. He went off for medical school and didn't met him since. He did looked he would know a thing or two about these strange feelings he's having. After all, he always acted rather strange when she met a girl. Perhaps, he should act like Brock? Maybe he should bow in front of Serena, with his hand extended, give a hammy speech about how much she made his stomach happy. Of course, he would need to build up his electrical resistance beforehand as he expects Pikachu to thunderbolt him and drag him away, as per the Brock tradition.

...Nah, that's just silly! Oh wait, Pikachu! Maybe Pikachu could help him out. Pikachu has been with him from the very start of his journey. No one could get more trusty than his Pikachu. In battles, in his journey, whatever Ash did, Pikachu was always by his side. Although he was not sure whether asking an electrical mouse for life advice was a good thing or not. But he decided to give a shot anyway. Plus, there was no one else at the moment he could talk to.

He looked in front of him. Pikachu was there.

"Hey, Pikachu."

"Pika pika!"

"Serena is nice."

"Pika pika!"

"But I never knew she would be...this nice."

"Pika pi pi!"

"I always thought she was nice but-"

"Pika?"

"I feel nice about her since she's nice."

"Pi pi pika!"

"But...but...after she did that...I don't feel the same anymore."

"Pika chu!"

"I...I...didn't know she was like...that."

"Pi ka ka pi chu pi!"

"I mean I always knew she was nice but I feel that...she's more nice."

"Pika pi pika."

"And...and...I feel nice about that too."

"Pika?"

"But I feel very nice. Just thinking about her makes me feel...strange."

"Pika pika?"

"But that never happened before! What's going on with me?!"

"You're in love you dork!"

"Wait, you can talk Pikachu?"

He looked to his side to see that Pikachu was sleeping. Where he thought was Pikachu, there was a tea cup. It's now empty.

Ash leaned back on his seat. Maybe, it was nothing. Nothing really happened. Serena was simply a friend and he was just overthinking through things. Maybe taking a vacation on a tropical island might clear his head up. But yet again, friends don't make you take life advices from teacups. It became clear of what he thought of Serena now.

Ash now felt a little sad. Serena was such an amazing person, and he went running off to catch Dunsparces which he couldn't do even that. Maybe he could have talked a bit more to her, maybe he could have hang out a little more with her, but she's not here with him."if"s and "could"s started to pop and cloud his head. Perhaps Pikachu could sense his trainer's feelings because he's now woken up and was looking at his trainer's eyes with concern. Ash noticed that his buddy probably wanted to listen what's bugging him.

"Pikachu!"

"Pika pi-"

Ash sqeezed Pikachu hard. Yep, he's the real deal.

"Pika pika pi."

"It's just I feel like, things could have been different."

"Pika pika pika!"

"Huh?"

"Pika pika pika!"

"I don't need to worry about what happened?"

"Pika pika."

"Hmmmmm...you're right."

His trusty buddy was indeed right. It's not like him to get upset about what happened in the past. He's the type to not to think about things and move on. That's what he always does and that's what Serena always wants him to do. Plus, when she meets her again, he's going to have a great time. He took a deep breath and let the frustations out of his mind. He leaned forward to look through the window. It's now night time. He couldn't see much in the darkness. But he could see faint lights in the distance. Perhaps it's Kanto?

"Pikachu! I think we're finally home!"

"Pika!"

Pikachu leapt into his trainer's lap. Then Ash softly spoke out,

"It's nice to see home again. Isn't that right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"


End file.
